The Goldstone | |
 Goldstone Ground in 1976 | |
 | |
| Location | Hove, England |
|---|---|
| Record attendance | 36,747 (Brighton and Hove Albion v Fulham, 27 December 1958) |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1901 |
| Closed | 1997 |
| Demolished | 1997 |
| Tenants | |
| Hove F.C. (1901–1904) Brighton & Hove Albion (1902–1997) | |
The Goldstone Ground (or The Goldstone) was a football stadium in Hove, East Sussex that was the home ground of Brighton & Hove Albion between 1902 and 1997.
The Goldstone Ground stood on Old Shoreham Road, Hove, opposite Hove Park in a partly residential area. The area was previously part of Goldstone Farm and was first used for a football match by Hove F.C. on 7 September 1901. [1] Albion played there for the first time on 22 February 1902, and it became the club's permanent home the next season. [2]
The main West Stand was largely built in 1958 and consisted of seating and terraces. The South Stand was originally built in 1949 and served family spectators. The North Stand was built in 1984 and consisted solely of terracing. The East Stand was formed of uncovered terraces. Floodlights were first installed in 1961. [3] The ground also hosted football games for the 1948 Olympic Games, one of only two grounds outside London (the other being Fratton Park).
On 23 September 1992, David Beckham made his professional début at this stadium, coming on as a substitute for Manchester United in a League Cup second round tie.
The ground was used as the home venue for both Tottenham Hotspur and Wimbledon for their pre-season 1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup campaigns, whereafter both clubs received one season bans from European football by UEFA for fielding under-strength teams. [4] The bans were later overturned on appeal.
The Taylor Report of January 1990 required all English clubs in the top two divisions to have an all-seater stadium by August 1994. Brighton were in the Second Division at the time and reached the playoff final the following year, but defeat to Notts County ended their hopes of reclaiming the First Division place which they had previously held from 1979 to 1983. Relegation a year later meant that Brighton were no longer covered by the requirements of the Taylor Report, and rising debts meant that the Goldstone Ground remained undeveloped and there were no serious plans for relocation. In 1996, Brighton were relegated to the fourth tier of the English football for the first time since the 1960s.
The final match at The Goldstone Ground was held on 26 April 1997, in which Brighton beat Doncaster Rovers 1–0. The result lifted Brighton off the bottom of Division Three and meant that either a draw or a win in their visit to Hereford United for their final game of that season the following weekend would prevent relegation to the Conference and preserve their Football League status. Brighton went on to draw that game 1-1 and thus secured survival, avoiding becoming the first former members of the top flight or the first major cup finalists to be relegated to the Conference, and sending their opponents down instead.
Between 1902 and 1997 the ground had admitted 22.9 million supporters to 2,174 games. [5] The largest attendance at the Goldstone was 36,747 when the Albion played Fulham on 27 December 1958. [6]
The ground's freehold was sold by the club's board of directors, who were trying to clear the club's mounting debts in an attempt to avoid bankruptcy, although no alternative home ground had been arranged, and the fans were not consulted. [7] The then-chairman, Bill Archer, aimed to profit from the sale of the lucrative development land on which the Goldstone stood. A proposed ground-share with Portsmouth – their nearest Football League neighbours – never materialised and the club eventually arranged a ground-share with Gillingham at their Priestfield Stadium, over 70 miles from Brighton.
The planned sale of the club's stadium provoked two pitch invasions by angry fans in protest against it. A pitch invasion late in the 1995-96 season, when the Seagulls were relegated to Division Three, resulted in a suspended sentence of three points deducted and a game played behind closed doors for the club. A similar protest on 1 October 1996 in a league game against Lincoln City meant that a Football League hearing on 9 December that year saw them deducted two league points. [8] The club later appealed against the points deduction but their appeal was rejected, although ultimately they still managed to avoid relegation from the Football League by a narrow margin that year. [9]
The Goldstone Ground was sold to property developers and the site was redeveloped as a retail park, currently known as the Goldstone Retail Park.
After returning to the Brighton area in 1999 following two years in Gillingham, Brighton & Hove Albion played at the Withdean Stadium, an athletics stadium about two miles north of the city centre. By this stage, a site at Falmer had been identified as Brighton's preferred location for a new stadium. This was finally completed in 2011, when the American Express Stadium was opened on a site four miles north-east of the city centre.
Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club's home ground is the Falmer Stadium.
Falmer Stadium, currently known as the American Express Stadium for sponsorship reasons and more commonly referred to as the Amex, is a football stadium in Falmer, Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. With a capacity of 31,876, it is the second largest stadium in South East England, after St. Mary's Stadium (Southampton), and the 29th largest stadium in the United Kingdom.
Priestfield Stadium is a football stadium in Gillingham, Kent. It has been the home of Gillingham Football Club since the club's formation in 1893, and was also the temporary home of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club for two seasons during the 1990s. The stadium has also hosted women's and youth international football matches and a London Broncos rugby league match.
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Haywards Heath Town Football Club is a football club based in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, England. They are currently members of the Southern Combination Premier Division and play at Hanbury Park.
The 1973–74 season was the 94th season of competitive football in England. Leeds United became league champions for the second time, finishing five points ahead of runners-up Liverpool in the First Division. Middlesbrough, Oldham Athletic and Peterborough United won the Second, Third and Fourth Divisions, respectively. Liverpool won their second FA Cup, beating Newcastle United in the final, while the League Cup final saw Wolverhampton Wanderers defeat Manchester City. In European club football, Tottenham Hotspur reached the UEFA Cup final but lost over two legs to Feyenoord.
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William Henry Jones, also known as Bullet Jones and the Tipton Smasher, was an English professional footballer who played as a centre forward for Small Heath in the Football League and for Brighton & Hove Albion in the Southern League.
Stuart Gary Tuck is an English former professional footballer who was most recently assistant manager at Whitehawk. Tuck played as a left back in the Football League for Brighton & Hove Albion until injury put an end to his professional career. Tuck then played as a centre back for many years in non-league football in Sussex.
Brighton & Hove Albion Women Football Club is an English women's football club affiliated with Brighton & Hove Albion. The club currently compete in the Women's Super League and the first team play at the Broadfield Stadium, home of Crawley Town F.C.
The 1996–97 Football League was the 98th completed season of The Football League.
The history of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. began in 1901. It first played in the Southern League, and was elected to the Football League in 1920. They won promotion to the First Division in the 1978–79 season, but were relegated in the 1982–83 season. They returned to the top flight for the 2017–18 season playing in the Premier League.
Ian Russell Chapman is an English former professional footballer. Born in Brighton, he spent most of his career with hometown club Brighton & Hove Albion.
The 2004–05 Football League Championship was the thirteenth season under its current league division format. It began in August 2004 and concluded in May 2005, with the promotion play-off finals. This was the first season to feature the rebranded Football League. The First Division, Second Division and Third Division were renamed the Football League Championship, Football League One and Football League Two respectively. Coca-Cola replaced the Nationwide Building Society as title sponsor.
The 2003–04 Football League First Division was the twelfth and final season of the league under the First Division name, and the twelfth season under its current league division format.
The Brighton & Hove Albion–Crystal Palace rivalry, sometimes nicknamed the A23 derby or the M23 derby only by the media, is the rivalry between English football teams Brighton & Hove Albion and Crystal Palace.
During the 1996–97 English football season, Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. competed in the Football League Third Division.
The 2015–16 season of the FA Women's Premier League is the 24th season of the competition, which began in 1992. Formerly the top flight of women's football in England, this season it sits at the third and fourth levels of the women's football pyramid, below the two divisions of the FA Women's Super League and above the eight regional football leagues.
Simon Paul Funnell is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward in the Football League for Brighton & Hove Albion.
50°50′17.09″N0°10′26.72″W / 50.8380806°N 0.1740889°W
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